January 22, 2010

“Congratulations! You’ve just outlived some interesting people. Tell us your date of birth, and we’ll tell you who they were…”

I signed up for Dead at Your Age expecting that it would be no more than a harmless bit of fun, destined to be scrubbed from my feedreader in a matter of weeks, due to boredom.

Au contraire. Being informed at regular intervals that I am now enjoying more time on Earth than someone far more famous/talented/worthy than me, is fast becoming one of the best little life-enhancers I know.

A lot of the famous deceased referred to will, I suspect, be unknown to most people outside of the cultural literati but this is more than atoned for by the occasional barnstormer celebrity, whose lifespan relative to my own renews my appreciation for what I have.

Granted, I don’t have Oliver Cromwell gunning for me but being told that I am now enjoying a longer life than Charles I was one of my prouder accomplishments in 2009…